Politics

Closed Session of the Alliance Senate Armed Services Committee

Galactic Alliance Parliament

0830 April 5, 2681

The thirty-two Senators of the Alliance Senate Armed Services Committee gathered in the chamber. Some looked bored, a few looked anxious but most were blank and unreadable.

As soon as all the Senators were seated the chairman, Senator Franco Ortega of the New Columbia colony, pounded his gavel and called the meeting to order. "On this date, April 5, 2681 at 0830 Galactic Standard Time I call this Emergency Meeting of the Allianace Armed Forces Committee to order. Gentlemen, this is a closed meeting. We will be discussing matters of the highest level of classification. I remind you that the Official Secrets Act applies and parlimentry privilage does not. Any leaks will be rigorously investigated by Internal Affairs. Everything discussed here is to be consider code-word classified and may not be discussed with anyone without the proper credentials."

"I ask the members to recognize the attendence of Director Markus Jarroe of Alliance Intelligence, the Honerable Olga Sjursen of the Executive Committee and Commander Kyle Dylan of Naval Intelligence. Admiral Chris Jamison will appear via sub space link from Ironman Station. I thank them and you for appearing for this meeting on such short notice." A video screen was lowered against the wall behind the speakers podium with the image of Admiral Jamison.

"This meeting was called at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Alliance Intelligence Agency and the Executive Directorate. At this point I will turn things over to Director Markus Jarroe."

Jarroe raised his right hand and was sworn in by the Sargent at Arms, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to this committee?"

Jarroe answered, "I do."

The Sargent at Arms said, "Please state your name and position for the record and proceed."

"I am Director Markus Jarroe of Alliance Intelligence Agency. I am here to give you background and reveal several of the Alliances closest held secrets."

"I have no doubt that you've all heard of ancient artifact discovered on the Cygnus Arm called Ironman. I'm about to tell you what we know that we have not released to the public.

"In 2602 on a scouting mission in the galactic halo we encountered an intelligent alien race that we have designated the Andromedans."

Almost instantly there was an outburst from the members and the Chairman pounded his gavel and called the meeting to order.

"We were able to communicate with the Andromedans and found them to be friendly and very much like ourselves. They told us that they were the remnants of a civilization that once ruled the Andromeda galaxy pretty much like we control the Milky Way. While exploring their galaxy, they found an artifact described almost exactly the same as Ironman. They studied it and watched it just like we have with Ironman but for hundreds of years it was inert. One day it gathered fuel from a gas giant which it was orbiting and began transmitting a subspace beacon signal."

"It continued to do so for almost a year and a half. Then it powered up again when the moons were in a rare alignment the artifact opened a gigantic wormhole. Several hours later an invasion fleet invaders poured through wormhole and destroyed everything in their path. The remnants of the Andromeda civilization moved to a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way where they have been in hiding ever since."

"The Andromedans asked us to keep their existence a secret which is why we have not made the first contact public."

"So, we are confronted with two inescapable facts. First: we know that there are other intelligent, space going races in the universe and one of them is extremely hostile. Second, we may be faced with the immenent prospect of invasion and the clock is ticking."

This time there was no outburst. Politicians, people whose profession was to talk, didn't know what to say.

Chairman Ortega said, "Thank you for your testimony Director Jarroe. The Chair recognizes Admiral Christopher Jamison of the Combined Fleet of the Galactic Alliance. Can you hear me OK Admiral Jamison?"

Admiral Jamison answered, "Yes sir Senator Ortega."

"Consider yourself sworn. You may proceed."

"I am Admiral Jamison and I've been assigned to the Ironman project for the last four years. When I first heard the truth of it, it scared the hell out of me but the Fleet has been preparing for this quietly for decades. We have significant forces in system and heavy reinforcements within a few days jump. I would like to tell you that we could stop the enemy cold but we just don't know."

"Realistically what we expect to happen is that our forces at the jump gate will be overwhelmed. That is where war plan Siberia comes into play."

"We may be faced with a situation where we will have to trade space for time. We have created a series of strong points at strategic positions around the Ironman system. To slow the enemy down while the Alliance can mobilize for war."

"Do we have any questions?"

Hands went up around the table.

Ortega said, "The chair recognizes Senator Halbert of Pacifica."

"The Senator said, "I address my question to Admiral Jamison. My homeworld Pacifica is less than fifty light years away from the Ironhand system and we have over a billion people. Should we be thinking about evacuation?"

Jamison replied, "That's a political question that I just can't answer. That's why we're talking to you today."

Hands raised again. Ortaga said, "The chair recognizes Senator Keller of New Caldonia."

Senator Keller said, "I want to address my question to Director Jarroe. How real is this threat. We're talking about a race that is eons old. Maybe they died out. Maybe they've settled in Andromeda."

Director Jarroe replied, "We have high confidence that the threat is very real. We have found other artifacts within the galaxy that we know were left by the race we call the Galaxians. According to the Andromedans, they move around the local group of galaxies and destroy civilizations that could challenge them and take what they want. They had scouts in our own galaxy as late as a few hundred years ago. In fact we are sure that they abducted humans from Earth."

Ortega said, "The chair recognizes Senator Renault of Rigel."

Renault said, "I want to address my question to Admiral Jamison. What can we do to help."

Admiral Jamison said, "Thanks for the question. It's the most impotrtant one that we can ask at this point."

"We need to go to full mobilization. We need ships, fighters and ordinance. We need speed the development of new weapons and a new generation of ships. We need trained crews, officers and pilots. We need funding and a lot of it. We need to prepare. Not just the fleet but our people too. We may be in for a long, ugly war with an enemy that is thousands of years ahead of us in technology. We need everything and we've only got a year and a half to get ready."